love, serve, teach: 4-6-2015

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for the emails! I absolutely love reading them, they really make my week. :) I haven't gotten the package yet, but I hope to get it today! The lambs are sooooo cute!!! I especially loved hearing about how it has helped Adam and ya'll come closer to the Savior, and gain insights to His love and how He cares for His sheep - including the one, out of the ninety and nine. Those experiences are so sweet. :) Wasn't Conference incredible? I wrote down many questions, and within the first two talks half of them were answered. There are so many things I loved, and I know with all my heart that President Monson is a prophet of God, and that this church is Christ's kingdom on the earth today. I am so, so grateful that we have this knowledge and the knowledge of God's plan for us in our lives.

I can't believe Isaac is starting his mission papers soon!! That is soooo exciting!! :) I am so, so excited for him! Serving a mission has been the greatest experience of my entire life! He is going to love it. It is so hard, it's probably the most difficult thing I've ever done, but also the most incredible. If I could give anyone going out to serve any advice, it would be to remember Christ's Atonement, and how it can enable us - give us strength and power to do things we cannot do ourselves, and also to love and befriend your companion, no matter who they are or how different you are. I loved the story in Conference about the obedient, hard working missionary who had a difficult companion, and how Heavenly Father gave him a gentle reminder that compared with God, they weren't too different from each other. I think that is sooo true for each of us. It's strange being near the end of my mission, I see younger missionaries who make similar mistakes or have similar weaknesses I had, before I learned what I was doing wrong and started to change to become better. It can be frustrating, but then you just do remember that you made similiar mistakes before, and that we're all at different stages of growth, but we are all on the same path, and God wants each of us to return to Him and become perfected in Christ. That's one thing I truly want to remember throughout my life, because it's true. We cannot become perfected in Christ if we are not humble, if we are judgemental or have pride in us. Pride is a stumbling block that keeps us from love, from service, from feeling the Spirit, and from being close to Christ and accessing His Atonement. There is SO much pride I need to remove from myself, and it can be a painful process stripping it away. But I just hope I can always turn to the Savior and become more like Him, do what He wants me to do, and say what He wants me to say.

I also loved Dexter's facebook post. That was so awesome, thanks for sharing with me. :) I'm glad everyone is doing well, and I love you guys!

As for us, it has been an awesome week! Wrapping down to the end of my mission has been a humbling experience. I think it's sort of like how you feel before your earthly life ends - you think back on the mistakes you made, the things you wish you had learned from the beginning, and I have realized there is so much I need to repent for. The natural man can easily influence us to sin - whether it be sin by omission, like not talking with someone on the street, or not following a spiritual prompting, or to sin - like by choosing to remain angry with your companion, or choosing to feed anger or be self absorbed. I feel sorrow for the mistakes I've made and my many weaknesses, and I just want to apologize to the Lord and to those people who I may have impacted because of my weaknesses and mistakes. At the end of my mission, I want to feel like I have done all I could, like I have done what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do. It can be hard to know and feel like you've done enough, to know if He is happy with you. I can say with confidence that I have strived to be exactly obedient and work diligently throughout my entire mission. I am so grateful I did, if I hadn't then ending my mission would be so difficult and would be filled with so many regrets. I think this is a really good analogy for our earth life, and I want to live my life in such a way that I can be reunited with the Savior, and that He will see my face with pleasure, and wrap me in His arms, and tell me, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." I would want Him to know that I loved Him and that I did my best to serve Him and become like Him, that I really tried to give my heart and life to Him. After all, He did give it all to me. I love my Savior, and I know He lives. I want to spend my life coming to know Him personally, and helping others come to know Him and feel His love through me.

It has really been a great week. My heart is just so full after Conference. I am so grateful for the prophet and apostles, and for our wonderful leaders, and most of all for having the knowledge of the gospel in my life.

L is doing okay, he actually had to go to the hospital, and he's hooked up to some hospital equipment, so we are having to postpone his baptism for a week or so. He's doing fine, just has to have a little recovery time. His family is really excited for his baptism, his son (whose a member) is going to baptize him. We are excited for him!

We got to go to the Easter Pageant again, and I didn't see Sister C, but another sister in our mission talked with her! Sister C asked if she was in the Tempe mission, she said yes, and then she told her to say hi to me! So it was fun to have that little Woodstock connection! We went with K and our investigator A. It was such a wonderful time! We've been doing a lot of street contacting, working with members, and having great lessons. I absolutely love this area, and I love the people here. We had a cool experience yesterday - there is a lady we've been trying to teach, but her parents really don't like us and are against the church. Well, last night we were walking through their apt complex, and we saw her mom standing alone in the dark (the one who doesn't like us.) We asked if she needed help, and she said she was looking for her son - he was lost, and she had been searching for him for an hour, and didn't know where to go to find him. We offered immediately to help, and went to look for him. We went a direction, and found him almost immediately - about 5 minutes later, playing with another family and looking for easter eggs. (yeah, at 8:30 at night. #maryvale) We called him over, and told him his mom was looking for him, and walked with him back to his mom. She was so relieved. She thanked us, and just walked away. It was a really cool miracle. We were thinking how cool it might have been if she were standing there praying (because she's a strong christian) looking for a son, and the Lord led us to her and helped her find him. It was a really special experience, and I know the Lord helped us and guided us to help her, and hopefully help her heart soften more to the gospel and the message we have to share, that could bless her life soooo much if she could only accept it. Maybe that little experience was part of her journey to prepare her someday to accept the gospel. It felt good to be able to serve and help one of God's children.

Well, I can't think of too much more to tell - I LOVE Sister W. I think she's one of my best friends. After nightly planning we always talk and laugh, and we have so much fun together. She helps me be a better person. Walking into the library today, she started singing the mulan song defeat the huns, but the words were "Let's get down to business to email our moms" hahahaha. She is so funny! I absolutely love her!! She says funny things like that every day, that keeps me laughing. It's funny, I feel like Heavenly Father blessed me in this last part of my mission with a companion who I get along SO well with, who helps me see more of what I want in a future eternal companion! Hopefully that doesn't sound weird! She is sooo awesome!!!

We did our mission 5k this morning, and it was so fun! We got polar pops afterewards, yum. :)

Well, I hope ya'll had an awesome Easter! I love you, and I am so grateful for you. Thank you for being such an awesome family. I hope you all remember how much God is aware of you and how much He loves you. I hope all of us can take time in our lives to recognize His hand and His miracles in our lives, because I know they happen every day, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Well, I love you! Have an awesome week!

Much love,

Sister Whitney Morris

Easter bunnies after service at St Marys food bank (thats why we look tired haha)